The goal of having a steering committee is a few things. Typically, they are comprised of each departments representatives, IT, Business, Digital Marketing, HR, Communications, Operations, etc.. and are responsible for reviewing the prioritized backlog list and determining the priorities for the sprint releases. Identifying members fore the steering committee is something your executive team will be able to provide guidance on as well if not have suggestions. This is also where requests from stakeholders can be submitted by the representatives and reviewed where it fits in the overall list of items. This takes the burden of responsibility off of you and your team of being the sole decision maker. When someone complains that their request isn’t being address you can simply state that you will bring it up to the steering committee for consideration and it will be prioritized in order of importance as it relates to the greater project as a whole.

Keeping the meeting notes and results of these meetings public will also be important to your transparent communications. Because if someone does escalate that their request isn’t being addressed you can simply point that individual to the updates and keep this included as part of your monthly executive updates. This will keep you well ahead of any objection or obstacle you might encounter as the collaboration transformation starts to take shape.

As you went through the process of building out your strategic marketing plan you probably encountered many who were interested and some who weren’t in discussions you had. There will be no shortage of those who want to be involved and allowing everyone on the team will just create obstacles down the road, so select your leadership carefully that will help keep those engaged, informed and managed as needed. Ask yourself; do you have the leadership you need? Someone that can work across multiple departments, be diplomatic in resolving conflict and be able to keep everyone motivated to deliver. Some of the best teams I have led have included someone from IT that can help communicate to the developers the business need; a business leader that manages the customer expectations and a stakeholder/communication manager that can help provide updates on status to the stakeholders and feed in any new requirements requests. Then having a good project manager that will hold people accountable for deliverables as well as pull meetings together to keep the teams informed and working together. This is a good start to building the foundation of your team.

Next post I’ll discuss managing those who aren’t on the team but believe you should be taking direction from them with transparent communication.